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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29487633">like a wedding dress needs dirt</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/coveredinthecolors/pseuds/coveredinthecolors'>coveredinthecolors</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Vampire Diaries (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anti Steroline, F/M, Fluff, kind of</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 23:41:54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,035</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29487633</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/coveredinthecolors/pseuds/coveredinthecolors</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Klaus Mikaelson spends Caroline Forbes' wedding day in a graveyard.</p><p>... But in his defense, so does she.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Caroline Forbes/Klaus Mikaelson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>175</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>like a wedding dress needs dirt</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello!</p><p>This was actually written and posted at some point last year. It had been deleted, but I decided I actually like this one, so I'm reposting it.</p><p>I hope you guys enjoy it!</p><p>Lyrics are from a Passenger song called 'Divers and Submarines'.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>you needed me</em><br/>
<em>like a wedding dress needs dirt</em>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>He spends Caroline Forbes’ wedding day in a graveyard.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Klaus Mikaelson has dug many graves in his lifetime.</p><p>It’s not hard work for him — not really. His back doesn’t ache, his arms don’t tire. Even the June sun, high at its peak, isn’t enough to make him break a sweat. Being the most powerful creature in the world comes with such perks, after all. Though, today, all of it seems like a curse. Today, he wishes his muscles would tremble and the heat would make him dizzy.</p><p>He wishes…</p><p>He tries to focus as hard as he can on the shovel. The way it digs into the dirt before sweeping it away, again and again. It’s not enough to keep his attention.</p><p>He feels like a bloody baby vampire, having to breathe to control his strength, his speed… He ought to make this last. He ought to keep his hands busy for as long as he can.</p><p>Because the alternative is looking at <em>her.</em></p><p>And he most definitely does not want to look at her. Or talk to her. </p><p>Except she is the reason he has found himself miles away from New Orleans, in this dreadful city he vowed never to step foot in ever again.</p><p>Because she is getting married.</p><p>To Stefan… To someone who proved again and again that he will not put her first. Will not do right by her even when threatened to — and believe it, Klaus<em> had tried</em>.</p><p>So he needed to see her. Just once. Just to know she was okay. </p><p>Yet, somehow, he ended up here. Digging a grave when he doesn’t even know <em>why</em> he is doing it. Because… Because after all this time all it took was a request from a runaway bride for him to do exactly what she asks of him.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>He spends Caroline Forbes’ wedding day in a graveyard.</p><p>… But, in his defense, so does she.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <em>She is here.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>And if she is here, she isn’t marrying anyone.</em>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>This isn’t the first time he has dug her a grave.</p><p>Years ago, he had made twelve from scratch just for her. After she had ruined everything and killed twelve people, making it possible for Silas to rise again…</p><p>Klaus had seemed less angry back then, truth be told.</p><p>She can see it, the tension in his shoulders. The darkness in his eyes when he dares look her way… Which happens rarely enough that <em>she knows</em> he is trying to ignore her. It makes the edges of her lips curl into a smile that he seems to be terrible at it.</p><p>That after all these years, he will still help her dig a grave — no questions asked — even if he is mad at her.</p><p>Which is ridiculous, really. They haven’t spoken in years and she owes him nothing. It’s none of his business who she marries… Or, well, <em>doesn’t</em> marry. He doesn’t get to be angry at her for that.</p><p>Caroline sighs, tilting her head to the side. She forgot how intense everything always was with him. They have barely spoken and she is already pissed at him and happy to see him and she really can’t seem to stop ogling his arms.</p><p>With the sleeves of his white button-up rolled up and the way his biceps flex when he moves the shovel…</p><p>Damn him. <em>She missed him.</em></p><p>Klaus catches her staring and smirks, probably in spite of himself. She wants to roll her eyes, but instead she holds his gaze. She isn’t sure herself if it’s a challenge or an invitation or what the hell any of this means.</p><p>But for the first time in so long she feels… <em>Light.</em></p><p>Even when he stops and sets the shovel aside, even when he looks at her as if to say <em>‘what now?’</em>... Even as the butterflies in her stomach flutter enough to make her sick… She feels more excited than she has in years.</p><p>What is wrong with her?</p><p>Klaus steps out from the grave with immortal grace, and her fingers grip tight onto the edge of the bench. <em>What now?</em>, she thinks to herself.</p><p>Caroline looks down at the skirt of her dress… The once immaculate white fabric is ruined at the edge, all tainted with brown and gray and black. There is no going back from this, she knows. No explaining how her dress got all dirty.</p><p>“You can say that the big bad wolf kidnapped you, because he wanted you all to himself.”</p><p>He is standing right in front of her. It is frightening that he can still read her so well after so many years. And his words...</p><p>Caroline raises her eyebrows at him, trying to look brave even though her cheeks are tainted red. “Well… They’d probably buy that.” She pauses for a moment, just staring at him before she frowns — “Wait. Is that why you came?”</p><p>She is joking, mostly. She knows he wouldn’t… That even if he had wanted to — and there is a part of her that really, really enjoys thinking that he might have wanted to, which she tries not to think too much about —, he wouldn’t have done it.</p><p>Not to her. Not when he is so annoyingly good at putting her first.</p><p>But he is here. He planned to go to her wedding… And she wants to know why. Enough to keep staring back at him even as his gaze poses her a clear challenge: when he found a runaway bride on her way to the graveyard, he kept his questions to himself, but now, if she presses for answers, so will he.</p><p>She finds herself not caring, though. Finds herself willing to talk to him. <em>Wanting</em> to talk to him.</p><p>Klaus sighs when he notices the resolve in her eyes, as if he had expected her to back down. As if maybe he isn’t ready to talk to her. Still, he has never been good at denying her anything, so he still sits by her side, careful to keep some space in between them.</p><p>If she didn’t know any better, she would say he is scared of her. </p><p>He keeps silent for a few moments, staring ahead. At the grass so green, except for the big hole he has created and the pile of dirt right beside it. But then he looks at her— <em>really</em> looks at her. In that way that has always made breathing a little too hard.</p><p>In that way that lets her know that, whenever she is near him, she is the only thing he is thinking about.</p><p>“I don’t know why I came,” he admits. “I wanted to see you.”</p><p>Caroline can see it in his eyes that he is telling her the truth. That for once he didn’t have some big plan… That he just came here to see her. Almost as if he knew that she would need him.</p><p>“Well, you broke the promise you made me,” she says, adding a smile to let him know she doesn’t really mind it.</p><p>Klaus laughs, but it sounds strained. She can see the white of his knuckles as he curls his hands into fists, though he manages to keep his voice neutral. "I suppose I did. Are you angry with me?”</p><p>She scoffs. “<em>Me?</em> You’re the one who’s been pissed ever since I ran into you. Which is stupid, by the way. You don’t have any rights to be mad at me just because I—”</p><p>“But I am angry,” he interrupts her firmly. And he looks it, too. His jaw clenched, his eyes burning… She can’t help but frown as she studies his face. He isn’t just jealous or pissed at her for almost marrying someone else… he is <em>furious</em>.</p><p>“Well, you don’t get to be. This is my life. It’s none of your business who I’m with, okay? This has nothing to do with you.”</p><p>And by the look on his face, she thinks he might get that, but he’s been known for having trouble controlling his mood swings. Besides, if she can still read him as well as she could years ago, she knows that some of that anger is directed at himself.</p><p>That he is livid that he can't stop caring.</p><p>“Last time I saw you…" he said, and it was an effort to keep herself from blushing thinking about his last visit. "You said you were going to build a life for yourself. And then what is it that you do? You throw it all away <em>for him</em>? You let what he wants be more important than what you need? I thought you had… After you broke up with Tyler, I thought you had finally understood.”</p><p>Caroline raises her eyebrows at him. </p><p>Whatever she expected him to say, it wasn't that. She expected jealousy, not anger on her behalf. And she hates it. She hates that he thinks he can say those things to her, that he just walks into town after years of radio silence and acts like he knows her. She hates it even more the fact that he is right.</p><p>“Understood what?” she asks, forcing her voice to remain calm.</p><p>His blue eyes are dark as a stormy sky as they stare right into hers. “You said that you had given him a choice. That you asked him to choose you... I thought you had understood that's what you deserve. That you had learned not to waste your time with those who would choose wrong.”</p><p>As quickly as it came, his anger fades. And as he stares at her, sitting on that bench by her side, he looks more disappointed than anything.</p><p>And she wonders… If seeing that she was starting to prioritize herself after Tyler… If seeing that she could put herself first was why he had agreed to leave her be all those years ago. Because he believed she would be fine on her own. And maybe it’s why he came back now that it seemed she had lost that.</p><p>Her anger fades, too, in spite of her best efforts.</p><p>“Well,” she says with a small smile. “I’m not getting married right now, am I? Maybe I did learn a thing or two.”</p><p>Klaus keeps his eyes on her for a second. Two. But eventually he smiles, too. The kind of smile that has him ducking his head to hide it from her.</p><p>The kind of smile that has her thinking about a different day, when they sat on a different bench and drank champagne and talked about being human. She remembers how freely they laughed that day.</p><p>She finds herself wanting to do that again.</p><p>“Will you tell me who we are digging a grave for?”</p><p>Caroline looks at the hole in the ground, a rush of excitement running down her spine.</p><p>“Me.”</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>“Do slow down, love,” he urges.</p><p>She is staring down at that grave with a wicked smile on her face. And she seems fine — well, considering she is running away from her own wedding —, but he isn’t quite sure what she means when she says that grave belongs to her.</p><p>It makes him watch her every movement with close attention. Out of all the things he thought he might have to protect her from, herself had never made the list.</p><p>“It won’t be long until Bonnie is casting a locator spell, you know. We have to hurry.”</p><p>“Caroline–” he says, grabbing her arm. “What are you doing?”</p><p>She finally looks at him. And her eyes widen in surprise at the concern in his, right before they soften.</p><p>“I’m dead,” she blurts out. “I died. Years ago and I– I didn’t want to face that. I wanted to play human… But it’s all that ever was, you know? I was just playing pretend. But now my mom died. And– And, really, everyone I have in my life… They are vampires, or former vampires, or werewolves and witches… Or– Or they came back from the dead! And I just… This isn’t working. This isn’t a normal human life. And I’m so, so tired of pretending that it is. Or that a human life is even what I want anymore, so– I’m dead. And I’m a vampire. And I think… I just really want to be a vampire. And I don’t want that to be a bad thing. I don’t think that is a bad thing.”</p><p>His thumb is drawing circles onto her arm as she speaks. He can’t help it. Even after all these years… Touching her, being near her…</p><p>They both look down to where his skin is touching hers. He forces himself to pull back.</p><p>“It’s not. It’s not a bad thing.”</p><p>Caroline smiles at him again. “Good. Then you have to help me out. Because this—” She grabs the skirt of her dress, pulling it up a little then letting it go. “This isn’t what I want.”</p><p>She speaks with such resolve in her voice the corner of his lips twitch.</p><p>“What is it that you want, then?”</p><p>She holds his gaze without hesitance, as if to say she will not back down. Not from this. Not from him.</p><p>“I just… I want to not get married today. And I want to bury these things. And I want to leave this town and not come back. Not for a while, anyway. That’s what I want." A pause. Then something very dangerous shines in her eyes. "Will you help me?”</p><p>Klaus swallows.</p><p>He will. Whatever she asks of him, he will do it. <em>And she knows it</em>, damn her.</p><p>“And what exactly is my role here? Do I drive the getaway car?”</p><p>She smiles, taking a step closer. She presses both her hands against his chest. “You could be the traveling companion, too, hopefully?”</p><p>In spite of himself, in spite of every last shred of dignity in his body… He finds himself smiling, too. Like a fool who just can’t help himself when he is around her.</p><p>“That can be arranged.”</p><p>Caroline turns around, gathering all her hair over her shoulder. “Go on, then.”</p><p>He remembers the last time he undressed her. In the woods, not that far from where they are standing right now. Then it had been ripped clothes and rushed touches… And a goodbye, in a way. But now, as he slowly drags down the zipper of her dress…</p><p>It feels like something new.</p><p>He won’t pretend it isn’t extremely satisfying hearing her dress drop to the floor. To see her stepping out of it and let go of this wretched town and the wretched people who could never come close to deserving her.</p><p>Caroline lets out a deep breath as she stands there in her creamy silk slip, as if a heavy weight had been lifted off her shoulders.</p><p>It’s a temptation he hasn’t felt… Well, ever since the last time he saw her. It takes all of his self control not to reach out and touch her.</p><p>To beg her to let him finish undressing her.</p><p>Instead, he watches her work with quiet contemplation.</p><p>She is quick to drop the dress onto the grave, her shoes follow suit without any hesitation, and she actually smiles when she removes her engagement ring from her finger.</p><p>“I loved him, you know,” she whispers, perhaps more to herself than to him. Perhaps because a part of her feels guilty for walking away so easily. “But he didn’t understand… He would never understand why I am doing this. Why I need this.”</p><p>He hears the words she doesn’t speak. Stefan would never understand her. Would never love her for who she truly is, because he simply would never know her well enough to do it.</p><p>“I know,” he says simply.</p><p>Caroline shoots him a grateful look, and drops the ring down on the grave alongside everything else.</p><p>“Pass me the shovel,” she orders him. And who would ever even do that… Who would he ever let order him around?</p><p>Some part of his brain yells at him to fight it. Yells at him to walk away and leave her here. But he knows that is a battle long lost.</p><p>He passes her the shovel.</p><p>And it’s a sight he never thought he’d see.</p><p>Caroline Forbes, wearing a short silk dress, barefoot in a graveyard and working tirelessly to fill up a grave. His fingers itch to paint her like this.</p><p>With that look of pure relief in her eyes.</p><p>She has her gaze fixed down, watching as the dirt sullies the white dress and the white shoes, slowly covering them. Until they are seven feet under like the girl who used to think she wanted them more than anything.</p><p>Caroline takes her time, and he isn’t surprised when she meticulously makes sure that earth is even and the hole completely filled.</p><p>And he understands… She needs this to feel finished.</p><p>But eventually there is nothing more she can do, and she drops the shovel on the ground by her side. He knows that she is immortal and that the labor certainly wasn’t enough to even make her break a sweat, but still she seems tired.</p><p>No, actually—</p><p>She seems vulnerable — <em>bare</em> — wearing only that slip, her bare feet on the dirt. But she looks at him, and the fire in her eyes is burning brighter than ever and that makes him smile.</p><p>“What?” she asks, raising her eyebrows at him — a mix of curiosity and defiance.</p><p>He can’t seem to help it; he walks closer to her, reaches out to place his hands on her arms. And the way she looks at him? Unguarded and breathless and thrilled… Her blue eyes find his, and for a moment all he recalls is her lying in her bed with a werewolf wound to her neck.</p><p>She hadn’t given in that night. And he had fought teeth and claws every day ever since to gain any inches he could.</p><p>But standing here with her, he realizes that he has since gained miles.</p><p>“Shall we?”</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>If he gained miles, then he is certain that she must have gained light-years on him.</p><p>Somehow, he doesn’t mind it all that much.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you so much for reading! If you have any thoughts you'd like to share, please let me know! Comments are always very much appreciated!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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